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A house on a hilltop lies in ruins as officials from the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority tour the site of the Loma Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Los Gatos, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016. The fire charred nearly 5,000 acres in southern Santa Clara County recently. Officials from the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority went to see the damage, including erosion from the Oct. 15-16 storms, which dumped nearly 10 inches of rain on the area. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

The remains of a house were visible on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, during a tour of the site of the Loma Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Los Gatos. The fire destroyed 12 homes and charred nearly 5,000 acres in southern Santa Clara County. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

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Firefighters attempt to push back flames in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Loma Prieta, California on September 27, 2016.
The Loma Prieta Fire has charred more than 1,000 acres and burned multiple structures in the area. / AFP PHOTO / Josh EdelsonJOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images

A firefighter works to put out hot spots in the Loma Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 11 miles west of Morgan Hill, Calif., Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

A structure burns as flames rage out of control in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Loma Prieta, California on September 27, 2016.
The Loma Prieta Fire has charred more than 1,000 acres and burned multiple structures in the area. / AFP PHOTO / Josh EdelsonJOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images

A plane drops fire retardant as firefighters work to control the Loma Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 11 miles west of Morgan Hill, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016. The wildfire, with flames ten stories high, doubled in size overnight, burning as many as 2,000 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains by Tuesday morning, destroying two structures and forcing hundreds to flee the area while crews from as far away as Napa rushed to contain the blaze. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group Archives)

A firefighter works to put out a hot spot as firefighters work to control the Loma Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 11 miles west of Morgan Hill, Calif., Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016. The wildfire, with flames ten stories high, doubled in size overnight, burning as many as 2,000 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains by Tuesday morning, destroying two structures and forcing hundreds to flee the area while crews from as far away as Napa rushed to contain the blaze. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

Firefighters man a fire line as they work to control the Loma Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 11 miles west of Morgan Hill, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016. The wildfire, with flames ten stories high, doubled in size overnight, burning as many as 2,000 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains by Tuesday morning, destroying two structures and forcing hundreds to flee the area while crews from as far away as Napa rushed to contain the blaze. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

A Cal Fire DC-10 air tanker banks for a run to drop retardant on advancing flames from the Loma Fire along the Summit viewed from Ormsby Trail. (Dan Coyro/Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Smoke fills much of the area around Loma Chiquita Road in Santa Clara County as the Loma Fire burns on Thursday. (Shmuel Thaler -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)

The remains of cars that burned on Loma Chiquita Road are evident as firefighters work to control the Loma Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 11 miles west of Morgan Hill, Calif., Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

The remains of house that burned down on Loma Chiquita Road are evident as firefighters work to control the Loma Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 11 miles west of Morgan Hill, Calif., Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies remove pot plants from a home on Loma Chiquita Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016. The marijuana-eradication raid was in the general vicinity of where the Loma Fire began. The operation is one of a series of periodic sweeps in the area to crack down on the large mountain grows that can spark fires like the huge wildfire that just died down. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies remove pot plants from a home on Loma Chiquita Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016. The marijuana-eradication raid was in the general vicinity of where the Loma Fire began. The operation is one of a series of periodic sweeps in the area to crack down on the large mountain grows that can spark fires like the huge wildfire that just died down. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

A Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy investigates a suspected illegal marijuana operation in the Santa Cruz mountains Wednesday in the area of the Loma fire. (Photo by Robert Salonga)

SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS — A portable generator being used in a marijuana farm was the culprit in the devastating Loma Fire last year that destroyed 12 homes and burned thousands of acres in Santa Cruz Mountains, Cal Fire officials announced Thursday.

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The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, which polices the unincorporated region off Casa Loma Road where the fire originated, is “investigating the legality of the (marijuana) operation.” No arrests have been made.

The marijuana farm in question was off Loma Chiquita Road, authorities said.

According to a source familiar with the fire probe, the property was under investigation for the fire, but that the grow was likely the work of renters. Those occupants have not been seen since the fire broke out.

The property owner was awaiting the completion of the fire investigation before responding to Sheriff’s detective inquiries, the source said, meaning the process of pinpointing those responsible for the grow is expected to resume.

To the Sheriff’s Office, Cal Fire’s conclusion was affirmation for the efforts of its Marijuana Eradication Team that takes aims at illegal grows, particularly in the county’s relatively untouched rural regions.

“This is why this is a serious problem. The only thing greater is if there was a loss of life,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Rich Glennon said. “People are cutting corners, whether it’s electrical or water diversion. It’s of paramount importance to run these investigations to hold people accountable for cutting those corners.”

A multi-agency squad of fire crews needed about a week to bring the blaze under control, by which point it burned 4,474 acres, according to Cal Fire. The fast-moving flames flushed hundreds of residents from their homes, but no one was killed in the fire.

The Loma Fire was the county’s most destructive wildfire linked to marijuana cultivation since the 2002 Croy Fire, which burned over 3,100 acres, destroyed 31 homes and which officials blamed on unpermitted solar panels powering an illegal marijuana grow.

The official cause of the Loma Fire also confirmed the suspicions of many residents in the area, and aligns with a crackdown on pot grows in the area in the wake of the Sept. 26, 2016 fire.

“I knew it from the minute it started,” said one fire-affected resident who asked not to be named out of safety concerns. “They do horrible things to the mountains.”

She added that the fire only worsened longstanding worries about unregulated marijuana grows in the area, and said Thursday that she could see an open-air pot farm on a ridge line across a canyon from her home. Their presence, and the violence that can accompany their maintenance, present a public-safety threat to mountain residents.

“If they think the problem is going away anytime soon, it’s not,” she said. “People just don’t get it. Only when it’s in their backyard are they going to get it.”

She commends the work of the county’s Marijuana Eradication Team chipping away at illegal grows, but laments that the size of the problem far outpaces their bandwidth.

“I’m not against marijuana. I support it when it’s regulated properly. The recreational law isn’t going to do a damn thing,” she said, alluding to the legalization of recreational marijuana set to take effect Jan. 1. “The bad guys aren’t going to get licensed.”

Glennon said that concern needs to be channeled toward helping deputies monitor the vast expanse where the farms are set up.

“We need community support, tips and information,” he said. “The environmental impact and impact as far as fire danger is real.”

Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputies remove pot plants from a home on Loma Chiquita Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016. The marijuana-eradication raid was in the general vicinity of where the Loma Fire began. The operation is one of a series of periodic sweeps in the area to crack down on the large mountain grows that can spark fires like the huge wildfire that just died down. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

Robert Salonga is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering criminal justice and public safety for The Mercury News. A San Jose native, he attended UCLA and has a Master's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously reported in Washington, D.C., Salinas and the East Bay, and is a middling triathlete. Reach him the low-tech way at 408-920-5002.

Santa Clara County supervisors Tuesday approved $123.1 million in funding for the construction of six new affordable rental housing projects and the rehabilitation of three existing buildings, using money from a $950 million housing bond that county voters passed in 2016.